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International Vaccine Board Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur

Board meeting discussed the future of vaccines for the first time in Asia.
Avas Associates Sdn Bhd
2015-04-01 18:14 3969

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Vaccine International Advisory Board (VACCIAB) held their first ever meeting in Asia, where ten of the most reputable vaccine experts from Malaysia and the world discussed issues surrounding vaccines and immunisation at InterContinental Hotel Kuala Lumpur today.

Seated from Left to Right: Dr. Tabassum Khan – Managing Director AJ Pharma Holding Sdn Bhd, Dr. Pierre Morgon - CEO AJ Biologics Sdn Bhd and Sir Roy Anderson - Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London.
Seated from Left to Right: Dr. Tabassum Khan – Managing Director AJ Pharma Holding Sdn Bhd, Dr. Pierre Morgon - CEO AJ Biologics Sdn Bhd and Sir Roy Anderson - Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London.

VACCIAB members comprises of a panel of international, world class experts from varying disciplines within the vaccine and immunisation specialty, including experts from Malaysia. Members discussed and deliberated on issues surrounding immunisation policies regarding the evolution of paediatric combinations based polio immunisation as the "end game" for the traditional vaccine is nearing, as well as developments in the meningococcal vaccine space. The ultimate aim of the advisory board is to create papers that can be used as reference by policy makers to shape more effective immunisation schedules.

"The meeting itself discussed science-based arguments and the output is very much within the scope of public health. Today, we outlined recommendations aimed at supporting public health initiatives, particularly in Malaysia," says Dr. Pierre Morgon, CEO of AJ Biologics Sdn Bhd. "Vaccination is an important part of any public health policy, as you are actually immunising to protect the population against transmissible diseases."

In any country, disease prevention is key to a successful public health programme, which leads to disease prevention through vaccines and effective immunisation programmes. Research has shown that immunisation reduces disease burden, long-term disabilities, and generates savings for citizens and a country's health system.

With the availability of new vaccines, a series of complex decision making steps is now required in selecting new prevention options and the overall strengthening of healthcare systems. Immunisation coverage rates are also a good measure of the overall strength of a Government's public health system primary care capabilities.

Immunisation rates in Malaysia are very good at over  95% coverage throughout the country. The recommended immunisation schedule implemented by the Ministry of Health is also very much up to date and includes the recommendations made by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Malaysia initiated its vaccination services from as early as 1956, and progressed with the introduction of WHO's Expanded Programme for Immunisation in 1972. As testament to the need for immunisation, Malaysia successfully eradicated polio and was endorsed polio free by the WHO in 2000. The last case of wild polio infection detected was in 1977.

Historically, vaccines have been responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella, mumps, tetanus and Haemophilus influenza Type b. Vaccination programmes were also responsible for the eradication of smallpox, one of the most devastating diseases in history.

Today's meeting marks the second annual meeting for VACCIAB where the inaugural meeting was held at The Institute of Directors in London last year. VACCIAB was established via an unrestricted research and education grant sponsored by AJ Biologics Sdn Bhd. AJ Biologics is a wholly owned subsidiary of AJ Pharma Holding Sdn Bhd, a healthcare and biotechnology investment company established in Malaysia under the Bio-nexus and Entry Point Project (EPP) program.

For further details, please contact:

Hannah Nawi
VACCIAB Secretariat
Email: hannah@ajbiologics.com
Phone: +6019 228 3022

For media inquiries, please contact:

Syuhada Adam
Avas Associates Sdn Bhd
Email: avasassocs@gmail.com
Phone: +6018 2699 412

FACT SHEET

Vaccine International Advisory Board (VACCIAB)

The Vaccine International Advisory Board (VACCIAB) is an independent advisory board and was established through an unrestricted research and education grant from AJ Biologics in March 2014.

The Advisory Board aims to function as an advisory committee and will provide reports and/or recommendations to Governments and relevant bodies with regards to the vaccine industry, and immunisation programmes and strategies. The primary focus initially will be Malaysia, and in the future encompass the region and the rest of the world.

Members of the Advisory Board consist of a group of professionals, with the common pursuit to share experience and knowledge in vaccines, epidemiology and health economics for the betterment of societies at large. All members bring a depth of knowledge in individual fields all related to vaccines, vaccine development, disease distribution and public health. Members were selected based on notable contribution to their industry and a strong commitment to the advancement of healthcare for populations.

The Committee is purely advisory in nature. However it intends to hold comprehensive discussions surrounding the following topics, which will allow them to develop white papers and strategy, documents, which can assist policy makers and industry with regards to immunisation programmes and strategies, and new vaccine therapies available.

Discussion areas:

-- Recent trends in disease distribution patterns

-- Health economics

-- Cost burden of vaccine preventable diseases

-- New developments or techniques in vaccine therapies

-- Potential immunisation strategies and programmes

-- Potential opportunities for the development of Halal vaccines

-- Public health perspectives and vaccine uptake

VACCIAB Panel members

Dr. Tabassum Khan - Managing Director AJ Pharma Holding

Dr. Tabassum Khan is a Medical Doctor who holds an MBA in Finance and a PhD in Healthcare Management. He is a top tier strategy consultant and is a widely respected authority on the efficient and effective management of healthcare related industries internationally. He has more than 20 years of top management experience in a multinational environment and has led organisations with very successful track record.

He is a lead tutor and runs regular sessions on Strategic Planning, Innovation and Value Management. In United Kingdom, he is a member of the Institute of Directors and Institute of Business Consulting. His expertise in Value Management has not only helped Government and private organisations to optimise their operations, revenues and costs but has also been instrumental in defining long term strategies and policies. He is also a regular speaker on international forums in the domains of Health Economics, Diabetes, Hypertension, Translational Medicine and Disease Prevention.

Dr. Pierre A Morgon - CEO AJ Biologics Sdn Bhd

Dr. Pierre A Morgon has over 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biological industry and in healthcare IT, both in marketing positions and in operations. Through these local and global positions, he has acquired direct experience with blockbuster products in diverse markets (primary care, specialty care, hospital, vaccines, and biotechnology), geographies (US, Europe, Japan, China, India, Emerging Markets) and organisations.

Currently, he is the Regional Partner for Switzerland at Merieux Developpement. He is also Non-Executive Director to the Board of Theradiag since March 2012, a company focusing on in vitro diagnostics in auto-immunity, infectious diseases and allergy, as well as Non-Executive Director to the Board of Eurocine Vaccines since December 2013, a company dedicated to developing nasal vaccines.

He holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy from Lyon University, France, a Master in Business Law from the Lyon Law School and a MBA from ESSEC, France. He is also an alumnus of INSEAD, IMD and MCE executive programs.

Jean-Michel Peny

Jean-Michel has extensive experience both in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in the world of academia. His pharmaceutical accolades includes 7 years of experience as General Manager for Servier International and Novartis Generiques France. He also spent 19 years in Strategy and Management consulting for the pharmaceutical sector with big consulting companies such as Bain & Co, Arthur D. Little, AT Kearney, and ISO Health Care Consulting. Throughout his career, Jean-Michel also gained over 20 years of experience in academia via teaching for some of the top universities in France.

Dato Dr. Nazlee Kamal

Dato Dr. Nazlee Kamal is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp) bringing with him over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector. Prior to joining BiotechCorp, Dr. Nazlee was the Founding CEO of Inno Biologics Sdn Bhd, a biopharmaceutical manufacturing and cell based diagnostics company. Among his experience in the pharmaceutical sector, he also worked with Amersham Biosciences, Sartorius and BBraun. He also served 10 years as a lecturer at the University of Technology Malaysia where he developed the Bioprocess Engineering Programme.

BiotechCorp is an agency under the purview of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and is responsible for executing the objectives of the National Biotechnology Policy.

Sir Roy Anderson

Sir Roy Anderson is a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London. He has mathematically modelled the spread of disease such as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and AIDS. He also currently chairs the science advisory board of WHO's Neglected Tropical Diseases programme, is a member of the Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges in Global Health advisory board, and chairs the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) advisory board funded by the Gates Foundation. He is a non-executive director or GlaxoSmithKline. He has published over 450 scientific papers on the epidemiology, population biology, evolution and control of a wide variety of infectious disease agents including HIV, BSE, Foot and Moth Virus, vCJD, SARS, dengue virus parasistic helminthes and protozoa and respiratory tract viral and bacterial infections.

Dr. Michael Clark

Dr. Michael Clark graduated as a Medical Doctor from the University of Paris specialising in Haemotology, and has since spent over 25 years in the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical industry. His business experience includes senior responsibilities in operational marketing in Europe and Emerging Countries, in strategic marketing world wide and in vaccine portfolio development world-wide for global pharmaceutical companies such Servier and Beecham, SmithKline Beecham and GSK Biologicals.

At GSK Biologicals, Dr. Clark was responsible for worldwide strategic marketing for GSK Biologicals' complete product portfolio, post which he was also the head of GSK's vaccines business in Latin America. Dr. Clark oversaw the global launch of over 10 innovative vaccines and biotechnology products; he was also the project lead for several Biopharmaceutical products and contributed to over 20 development projects over a period of 15 years.

Klaus Hermansen

Klaus Hermansen is one of those rare people in the vaccines industry who combines world-class manufacturing knowledge, deep business understanding and cultural appreciation of working across the world. He is a senior technology partner within the business development group in NNE Pharmaplan and heads the company's vaccine design group.

Klaus started his career at Novo Nordisk, where he was in charge of manufacturing. Later, in 1987, he moved into the vaccines industry and has held key positions in the manufacturing supply chain in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK.

Klaus joined NNE Pharmaplan in 2005 when he played a major role in setting up the vaccine design and technology group. He has been instrumental in developing manufacturing strategies for key customers in Europe, the US and emerging markets, especially China and India. He is an expert within the area of vaccine manufacturing, facility design, biocontainment and single-use technologies.

Dr. Varaprasad Reddy

Dr Varaprasad has extensive experience in the development and production of vaccines and has been involved in a number of projects in India. Dr. Varaprasad was part of the team that was responsible for the development and commercialisation of India's first r-DNA Hepatitis B vaccine. It was for this effort that Dr. Varaprasad was awarded the National Award Padma Bhushan by the President of India for his efforts in developing an affordable vaccine against Hepatitis B through indigenous efforts to benefits the common man and thereby creating a biotech revolution in India.

Dato Seri Jamil Bidin

Dato Seri Jamil Bidin was appointed CEO of Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) in 2006, with more than 30 years experience in the corporate sector. He started his career as an Accountant with Rothmans of Pall Mall Berhad. Since then, he has acquired extensive experience in auditing, corporate finance and financial management in various positions in public listed companies such as CI Holding Berhad, Arab Malaysian Group and the Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad. In 2002, Dato Seri Jamil was made the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Putera Capital Berhad, a main board public listed company with activities in manufacturing, construction, property development and engineering.

Professor Dr. Tin Tin Su

Dr. Tin Tin Su is the Head of the Centre of Population Health (CePH) which is responsible for looking at areas such as health economy, public health policy, healthcare financing, social epidemiology violence sexual health.

Dr. Tin Tin Su has qualifications from Institute of Medicine in Yangon as well as the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Su's area of expertise is Health Economics (Economic evaluation, econometric modelling, health economic study in non-communicable diseases, and quality in healthcare).

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150401/8521502084

Source: Avas Associates Sdn Bhd
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